robert reich guardian

Many of them were in the trenches with Biden and Barack Obama in 2009, when the economy last needed rescuing. For the same reasons, they’re unlikely to stir strong opposition from Republicans, a necessity for Senate confirmation, particularly if Democrats fail to win the two Senate runoffs in Georgia on 5 January. 2) Use racist fearmongering. Fatigued by the coronavirus and Trump, the idea of going back to normal is seductive – we must guard against it, Last modified on Mon 30 Nov 2020 16.16 EST. Robert Reich's latest book, The System: Who Rigged It, How We Change It, will be out in March. “Life is going to return to normal,” Joe Biden promised on Thursday in a Thanksgiving address to the nation. Hence the paradox. To the extent voters gave Biden a mandate, it was to end both scourges and make America normal again. Robert Reich, a former US secretary of labor, is professor of public policy at the University of California at Berkeley and the author of Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few and The Common Good. There is no firebrand among them, no Elizabeth Warren or Bernie Sanders (at least not so far). It means only that, as a practical matter, the responsibility for summoning the political will to reverse inequality will fall to lower-income Americans of whatever race, progressives and their political allies. They will need to organize, mobilize and put sufficient pressure on Biden and other elected leaders to act. Third, reallocating power is hugely difficult. “Just split the baby and move on.”. Union membership didn’t expand significantly until more than a decade after FDR’s Wagner Act. Normal is also growing corruption of politics by big money – an economic system rigged by and for the wealthy. Vaccines will allow “a gradual accrual of more normality as the weeks and the months go by as we get well into 2021”. Having served in the administrations of Presidents Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, and Bill Clinton, and as an advisor to President Obama, Reich now writes a weekly column for the Guardian… Why have recent Democratic presidents been reluctant to take on structural inequality? Yet the problem of widening inequality is distinct from the problem of recession. Normal is climate change now verging on catastrophe. Last modified on Tue 15 Dec 2020 14.27 GMT. Biden has said any stimulus bill passed in the lame-duck session will be “just the start”. The Guardian - Robert Reich. America wants to return to a reassuring normal, but Biden can’t allow it. He was talking about life after Covid-19, but you could be forgiven if you thought he was also making a promise about life after Trump. Hallelujah. Biden’s early choices for his cabinet and senior staff fit the same mold – “boring picks”, tweeted the Atlantic’s Graeme Wood (referring to Biden’s foreign policy team), “who, if you shook them awake and appointed them in the middle of the night at any time in the last decade, could have reported to their new jobs and started work competently by dawn”. Robert B. Reich is Chancellor's Professor of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley and Senior Fellow at the Blum Center for … The stock market’s meteoric rise has benefited the wealthy at the expense of wage earners. Robert Reich: America’s Real Divide Isn’t Between Red And Blue — But Oligarchy And Democracy. They were inevitabilities. They also stand out for their abilities not to stand out. All his designees, including Janet Yellen for treasury and Anthony Blinken for secretary of state, are experienced and competent – refreshing, especially after Trump’s goon squads. He is a columnist for Guardian US, Available for everyone, funded by readers. Robert Reich, former U.S. Secretary of Labor and Professor of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley, has a new film, "Inequality for All," to be released September 27. He served in the administrations of Presidents Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton. The richest 1% of US households now own 50% of the value of stocks held by Americans. He is no longer president. Robert Reich, a former US secretary of labor, is professor of public policy at the University of California at Berkeley and the author of and . For the last 40 years, hourly wages have stagnated and almost all economic gains have gone to the top. ROBERT B. REICH is Chancellor's Professor of Public Policy at the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley. "In reality, Donald Trump doesn’t run the government of the United States. 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